


Hard to Imagine

by purplebass



Category: Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26256655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplebass/pseuds/purplebass
Summary: This is my first Kelila fanfic. I’ve just read “A Darker Shade of Magic” and I haven’t finished the series, but I was inspired to write about them because I really like this couple. I hope you like it.
Relationships: Delilah Bard/Kell Maresh
Kudos: 5
Collections: Kell and Lila's Adventure





	Hard to Imagine

Kell stared at the long line of ships docked at the harbor of Red London. Ships used to make him dream of travels abroad and far from his duties. Of voyages done the ordinary way. Of how it would be fun to board an imposing monster made of wood and feel the breeze caressing his face. Of the sea hitting the ship as if it wanted to turn it upside down, and keeping it in place at the same time. Someone could call him stupid for wanting to do something so fickle and common, but they didn’t know how Kell found magic tedious at times. His trips to the other Londons took no time to make, and he missed the thrill which came with travel and the effort it took to reach a destination.

_Who knows where she is now…?_

Kell had travelled alone his whole life until he could share the trip with somebody else. He still didn’t understand how it was possible that she had made it from her London to his. And to Red London to White London the second time and back there. She will never know, but when he pronounced the words that would let them cross the door from a London to another, his heart was hammering in his chest. He was afraid to lose her. And who knows who he had to thank (maybe the black stone) that he wasn’t deprived of her when the boundaries between the two different cities blurred together. He knew it was short lived, because eventually, he would lose her.

Except, he already lost her. As he watched her go towards her future a few weeks earlier, he felt a hollowness in his heart. It wasn’t like when he had bound his life to Rhy – no, it was worse. When Lila walked away and never looked back, she brought a part of him with her, one he would never be able to get back. And no, it wasn’t the stone.

He searched in his pockets for the kerchief she had given to him in more than occasion, and he found nothing but a few coins. Kell shook his head and looked at his feet before walking away from the dock, ignoring the pain in his chest. There was nothing for him there, but memories. If they had even happened for real.

_Had she been even real?_

He mulled over the possibility that it had all been a dream but was soon shaken off his reverie when somebody patted him hard on the back.

“What the hell?” Kell exclaimed, ready to say something to whoever had dared to be so daring to touch him, let alone shove him forward. He was about to trip. When he was face to face with the culprit, his eyes widened in disbelief. “I must be going mad.”

“You’ve always been a little mad, Kell,” said Lila, or at least who Kell imagined to be Lila. Her hair was a bit longer and covered half of her neck. She looked healthier compared to the first time they had met, and of this, he was grateful.

“At least you’re alright,” Kell replied, managing a rueful smile. “I’m comforted.”

Lila, or her illusion, raised and eyebrow and touched Kell’s forehead. “It appears you’re not, Kell. Are you feverish? Because you know, I have the solution for that.”

Kell kept staring at her in disbelief, his brows furrowed. “You’re hallucinating, Kell,” he declared to himself more than to her. There was only one thing he could do to see if he was…

It happened to fast. Kell didn’t have time to finish his sentence that he felt Lila grab his hand and throw them both into the deep, cold, wintery sea. He swam to the surface, out of breath, and found her staring at him again, floating graciously in the blue sea of Red London.

“What the hell did you want to do, Lila? You could have killed us!”

Lila shook her head and started laughing. It wasn’t a soft laugh, but a thunderous one. She was enjoying this, and must be enjoying herself. Kell noticed her cheeks were red, but he couldn’t say if they were because of the cold water or because of something else.

“You exaggerate as always, Kell. It’s just water,” she rolled her eyes.

“Why did you throw us in the sea?”

“You looked like you needed a cold shower,” Lila revealed, making Kell blush this time.

Kell sighed and removed his hair from his face. “I don’t know how you got this idea, but… I’m not feverish. On the other hand, I guess that this little stunt will make me fall ill for real.”

“So what?”

Kell rolled his eyes at Lila and swam towards the dock. There was a flight of small stairs near the spot where Lila had thrown them in the water, and he intended to climb them before his bones would freeze. He heard Lila follow him, but he didn’t look back, fearing that if he did, she would not be there. Then he would really be mad. Once he made it back on the dock, he looked at the state of his clothes. Drenched, but so was she. Lila didn’t seem to mind; she just wrung her dark hair and then her coat without a care in the world.

Lila was still trying to wring out water from her clothes when Kell approached. His hands touched her arms. First softly, then his hand squeezed the wet forearms of her dark coat. “I must take you to the palace as soon as I can,” Kell murmured, his tone urgent and sweet.

Lila gaze up at him, her mouth slightly open in disbelief but at the same time, recognition. It was really Kell. Kell and his involuntary care for the people he lov-

Lila shook her head. “Why don’t we go on my ship,” she suggested instead, winking at him. “I have a few things you can borrow until your clothes dry off.”

“Your… ship?”

“Why, Kell, you’ve never been alone with a pirate before? I swear I don’t bite! Even if my sense of humor is biting.”

Kell grinned, feeling more at ease than he had before. He touched Lila’s neck and felt her stiffen under his touch. He realized it might have been an unwelcome move to make, and recoiled his hand. But Lila grabbed it and put it back.

“It’s okay, Kell. I’m here.”

“Are you?” Kell wondered, but this time he was just teasing her. No, she wasn’t an illusion of his mind. She wasn’t magic.

“Do I have to throw you back in the sea to prove it again?”

“No thanks. One time is enough.”

“Good. Because I’m freezing.”


End file.
